Khodorkovsky claims Putin is involved in Skripal poisoning

Wednesday, March 14, 2018 12:00:07 PM

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an oppositionist who lives in Switzerland said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible for the poisoning of former British spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. "Putin ordered this done. That or he lost control of the special services, which is also likely," Khodorkovsky said on Tuesday, March 13, on German public-service television channel ZDF.

Former Russian intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia were found unconscious in Salisbury. England on March 4. They are currently in the hospital in critical condition. The investigation proposed that they were poisoned with a nerve agent, possibly of Russian origin. In 2006, Skripal was convicted in Russia for spying for the British, and in 2010 he received asylum in the UK as part of a spy exchange.

Meanwhile, the British government’s findings that Moscow is involved in the poisoning of Skripal is supported by more and more Western politicians of the highest rank. US President Donald Trump stated, "It seems to me that Russia is guilty based on the evidence that [the UK] collected."

German officials are more cautious. "If it is confirmed that Russia is behind this poisoning, it will be a very serious incident," German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said, emphasizing that Berlin "strongly denounces this attack with banned chemical weapons." German Chancellor Angela Merkel also said that she expects from Moscow "quick answers to the justified questions of the British government."

The British government gave Russia one day to clarify the situation with the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter via a Novichok nerve agent, which was developed in the USSR and persisted in Russia. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergei Lavrov replied that Moscow does not intend to respond to the UK’s ultimatum until they have had access to the case file.